New Brunswick rebuilds housing rehabilitation program

A New Brunswick housing rehabilitation program is up and running again, more than two years after grinding to a halt when a corruption scandal felled city officials who ran it.

The city is offering a total of $650,000 between now and next summer to help low- and moderate-income homeowners fix leaky roofs, install new furnaces and do other home-renovation projects, officials said.

"We're looking for people," said city planning director Glenn Patterson. Currently 20 families are on a waiting list, he said.

This time around, to save costs, the program is being run by a private contractor, Mayor James Cahill said. East Windsor-based Community Grants, Planning & Housing is responsible for qualifying applicants for the programs, deciding the scope of work, managing bid requests and inspecting the work of contractors, said Bill Bray, city spokesman.

By hiring the private company to oversee the program, "we were able to get off and running quickly," Bray said. A single city position was created to oversee the private company, he said.

The federally funded program was suspended in October 2006 when paperwork irregularities in the department of planning and economic development led city officials to contact federal authorities.

The program officially restarted last October, with a request for bids from contractors.

In May 2008, the former director of the program, William Walker, pleaded guilty to taking $112,500 in bribes and getting cut-rate renovations on his own home and a rental property in Camden from contractors he helped win bids.

In addition to Walker, the U.S. Attorney's Office investigation led to three other guilty pleas by city officials on charges of taking kickbacks and four guilty pleas by contractors involved. A dozen homeowners were left with unfinished projects as the investigation unfolded.

One city resident left in the lurch was Larry Santangelo, 79.

Contractors had started $20,000 in repairs to Santangelo's single-family home on Bartlett Street, where he has lived for 50 years, when work halted, he recalled Wednesday.

His leaky, old roof didn't get fixed, and work the contractor completed was shoddy, he said. The former postal worker has avoided sitting in his living room, out of fear, he said.

"We didn't know if the ceiling will fall down," Santangelo said.

Last fall, the city contacted Santangelo to tell him the housing rehabilitation program had restarted. According to Patterson, the city is giving priority to homeowners approved to get help before the corruption scandal hit.

This week, contractors finished work at Santangelo's home, and tomorrow an inspector is to check it, he said.

He finally has his new roof, the walls of his home have been repainted white, and his home's electrical system has been updated, he said.

"It looks very good," said Santangelo, who lives in the home with a woman and her 8-year-old son.

Since 1991, New Brunswick has distributed roughly $13 million in grants to 1,000 homeowners through the program.

Single-family and two-family, owner-occupied properties "" if both owner and tenant are income-qualified "" are eligible to get the city's aid for home renovation projects. One program offers up to $8,000 as a grant for emergency repairs.

The other program offers up to $30,000 for critical renovations, and the money does not have to be repaid if the owner stays in the home for 10 years.

Summer is an ideal time to apply for the program, said Randall Gottesman, president of Community Grants, Planning & Housing, which oversees New Brunswick's program, as well as similar programs in 20 other New Jersey municipalities.
Karen Keller may be reached at kkeller@starledger.com.